Telephone-exchange system.



PATENTED JAN. 29, 1907.

` i B. 0. FOX.

TELEPHONE EXGHANGE SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.11,1905.

W/TNESSESf THE NuRRls 'Ps1-Ens co.. wAsHmaraN. n. c4 l UNITED sTATEsPATENT oEEIoE.

BENJAMIN O. FOX, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOMICHAEL S.- SHERIDAN, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

' TELEPHONE-EXCHANGE- SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 29, 1907.

Application filed December 1I, 1905. Serial No. 2921.177.

To @ZZ whom it' may concern;

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN O. Fox, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city of Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, and State ofWisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements inTelephone-Exchange Systems, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to improvements in private telephone-exchangesystems.

The obj ect of my invention is to provide a simple and comparativelyinexpensive telephone-exchange system by which parties located in theseveral different compartments of a business establishment are able notonly to communicate directly with the stations located at the diderentcompartments, but may also control the electric circuits between suchstations without rst calling up a central station, whereby the centralstation heretofore employed for closing vthe electric circuits betweenthe several subordinate stations of a system is dispensed with.

The construction of my system and the devices located at the severalstations of a system are explained by reference to the' accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a vertical section drawn on line:c of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section drawn on line y y ofFig. l. Fig. 3 represents a horizontal section drawn on line a z of Fig.l, and Fig. 4 represents a diagrammatic view comprising two stations ofa single system. A

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughoutthe several views.

Each station of a single system is provided with similar apparatus forreceiving and transmitting messages, and each apparatus comprises, amongother things, a transmitter 1, receiver 2', both of ordinaryconstruction, supporting-frame 3, receiver-supporting arm 4,arm-supporting pivot 5, and a plurality of push-buttons 6. When a personat any given station-for example, at station A wishes to call up aperson at any ofthe other stations in the system-for example, stationB-he first moves one of the push-buttons 6 inwardly to the extreme limitof its movement, whereby the conical-shaped flange 7, connected withsaid push-button, is brought in contact with the circuit-closing arm 7and said arm 7 is broughtv in contact with the conductor 8, whereby anelectric circuit is closed between the station A andv the signal-bell atstation B through the following conductors: beginning with theswitch-arm f 7", conductor ll, receiver-hook 4, conductor 40 (thereceiver-hook being down normally) to the bell 41A, from thence throughthe conductor 41",- battery 42, conductor 43 to the conductor 8 ofstation A, thus completing the circuit, when the bell at said station Bis caused to ring so long as the i insulated portion 6 of the flange 7is in contact with said circuit-closing arm 7. When, however, thepush-button at station A is released, it is thrown back by the recoil ofthe spiral spring 8 until the pawl 9', which is pivotally connected withtheV supporting-frame, engages the retaining-flange 10. It will beunderstood that the flange l0 is electrically connected with thereceiver 2 at station B through the push-button 6, flange 7,circuitclosing arm 7, and conductor l 1, switch-hook 4, and conductor46, and the circuit is closed from said receiver' 2 back to theswitch-arm 7 through the conductor 41, conductor 13, conductor 47,receiver 2 at station A, conductor 48, switch-hook 4, conductor' 49,push-button 6, flange 7, and from thence' to said arm 7 therebycompleting the talkingcircuit. This being done, the parties can carry ona conversation in the ordinary man'- ner. When they party at station Ahas finished his conversation and has again placed the receiver upon thesupporting-arm 4, the pawl 9 will be thereby brought out of engagementwith the flange l0, when said pushbutton will be thrown back in itsformer' position by the further recoil of said spiral spring 8.

It will be understood that the apparatus in each of the several stationsis provided with a push-button for each of the stations in the entiresystem with which it is desirable to communicate and that each of thepush-buttons is provided with a separate number orcharacter indicatingthe particular station with which it is connected, whereby, for example,when a person at station A wishes-to call up station 5 he would push abutton at such station which has a number corresponding-` with theVstation number 5. So in like manner when a person wishesk to communicatewith any other station he will push in a button having a numbercorresponding with the number of such other station with which TOO hewishes to communicate, each of the several stations in the system beingin like manner equipped with a separate push-button for each of theother stations and a separate electric conductor communicating betweensuch push-button and such other station.

It will be further understood that the pawl 9 extends entirely acrossthe supportingframe 3 in close proximity to the several pushbuttons,whereby when any one of said buttons is pushed in it will be caught andheld in place by said pawl 9 until said pawl is disengaged therefrom bythe weight of the receiver 2, acting through the arm 4. The pawl 9 isretained in'its raised position preparatory to engaging the flange 10 ofthe several push-buttons by the spiral spring 15. Motion is communicatedfrom the receiversupporting arm 4 to the pawl 9 through the angular bar16, which bar 16 is pivotally connected to the arm 4 by the screw 17.The lower end of the bar 16 is slidably connected with the frame 3through the bracket 18, in which it has a vertical movement as the arm 4is moved upwardly and downwardly. The arm 4 is moved upwardly by therecoil of the spiral spring 19 and downwardly by the weight of thereceiver 2. It will now be understood that, assuming that one of saidpush-buttons has been pressed inwardly and caught by the pawl, it willbe thus retained until released, as stated, by the downward movement ofsaid arm 4; that as soon as the receiver 2 is removed from the arm 4said arm 4 will be drawn upwardly by the recoil of the spiral spring 19,as stated, whereby the bar 16 will be drawn upwardly above the pawl 9,that as soon as said receiver 2 is again suspended from said arm 4 andsaid arm 4 moved downwardly by the weight of the receiver, as stated,said bar 16 will be brought against the upper lside of said pawl 9,whereby said pawl will be forced downwardly and thrown out of engagementwith the retainingflange 10 of the push-button and said pushbutton willbe released, when it will be thrown back to its normal position by therecoil of the spiral spring 8. When said arm 16 is being forceddownwardly by the weight of the receiver, it will be simultaneouslycarried toward the left by contact of the angular bend or bearing 2Owith said bracket 18, whereby when said pawl has been thrown out ofcontact with said iiange 10 said bar 16 will be moved to the left andthrown out of engagement with said pawl and will remain out ofengagement therewith until it is again raised by the upward movement ofsaid arm 4, when the receiver 2 isremoved therefrom.

It will be understood that the spring 20 has a tendency to throw saidbar 16 toward the right and above the pawl 9 as it is being raised andthe angular bend 20 ofthe bar 16 has a tendency to throw said bar 16toward the left and out of contact with said pawl as accomplished byforming a plurality of slits 21 in one end of said circuit-closing arm7, when the conductor 11 is passed through said slits and between therespective 'lingers 22, formed by said slits 21, when said fingers areclamped around said conductor and retained in place by contact with thebar 25, which is secured against said fingers by the retainingscrews 26.Then the end of the conductor 11 has been thus clamped between thefingers 22, it is carried downwardly between the wall of the inclosingframe 3 and the clamping-bar 27, when said clamping-bar is secured inplace against said several conductors 11 by the retaining-screws 29. Itwill be obvious that by this arrangement any movement which may becommunicated to the conductor will be resisted by the clamping-bar 27,and the tendency to disengage such conductors from the circuit-closingarm 7 will be entirely overcome. The pawl 9 is pivotally connected atits respective ends with the respective sides of the frame 3 by a rodoperating in the supporting-bearings 29. The arm 4 is pivotallyconnected with the supportingframe 3 by the bracket 30 and the pivotalbolt or pin 5.

It will of course be understood that all stations in the system areequipped in the same manner and that station B or any other station maycall up station A in the same manner as station A may call up station B.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a telephone-exchange system of the class described, thecombination with each of the push-buttons of the several stations, of acontact-bearing adapted as said push-button is forced inwardly to move acircuit-closing arm in contact with the terminal of a conductor leadingto a signal at a distant station, a second contact-bearing adapted assaid button is released to be brought in contact with a retaining-p awl,a retaining-p awl adapted to engage the second contact-bearing of allthe push-buttons in a single station and hold the same in acircuit-closing position until the receiver at such station is placedupon its supporting-arm, actuating means connected with thesupporting-arm of a receiver for throwing said retaining-pawl out ofengagevment with the contact-bearings of the several IOO IIO

IIS

push-buttons as said receiver is placed upon 1ts supporting-armand meansfor releasing said pawl from engagement with the actuating meansconnected with said receiver-supporting arm as soon as said push-buttonshave been released from said pawl, whereby said pawl may be drawn backto its normal position as soon as the contact-bearings of thepush-buttons have been disengaged therefrom.

2. In a telephone-exchange system of the class described, thecombination with the main supporting-frame 3, of the pawl 9, pivotallyconnected at its respective ends to said frame, a plurality ofpush-buttons 6, slidably supported in said frame, each provided withradial flanges or contact-bearings 7 and 10, circuit-closing arms 7adapted to be thrown to their closed position by contact with saidflange 7 as said push-buttons 6 are moved inwardly, pawl 9 adapted assaid push-button is released from the hand lof the operator to bebrought into engagement with the flange 10 with any one of thepush-buttons at such station and retain the same in circuit-closingIposition until said pawl 9 is disengaged therefrom, spring 8 adapted byits recoil to throw said push-button back to its normal position whenreleased by said pawl, receiver 2, receiver-supporting arm 4, verticalbar 16, pivotally connected at'one end with said arm 4, actuating-spring19, adapted, when the receiver is removed from said arm 4, to move thelatter to its raised position and bring the bai; 16 above the pawl 9,bracket 18 having bearings for the angular bar 16 and bar-actuatingspring 20', said bar 4 being adapted to be raised by the action of saidspring 19 when released from the weight of the receiver whereby said bar16 is brought above the pawl 9 and in position to contact therewith asit descends, said bar 16 being adapted as it is drawn downwardly by theweight of the receiver to throw said pawl out of engagement with saidpush-buttons, and said bracket 18 being adapted when said pawl has beenthrown out of engagement with said pushbuttons to draw said bar 16 outof engagement with said pawl, whereby when said push-buttons have beenthrown to their normal position said pawl 9 will be free to move back inits normal position, substantially as set forth.

3. In a telephone-exchange system of the class described, the deviceherein described for connecting the several conductors 11 with one endof the several circuit-closing arms 7 consisting in the combination withthe one end of said circuit-closing arms, of a plurality ofretaining-lingers 22 adapted to engage one end of said electricconductors, a clampingbar 27 extending past the several circuitclosingarms 7 and the several electric conductors 11 of a single station andadapted to simultaneously clamp all the conductors of a single stationandhold the same independently of the respective connections between. f

said conductors 11 and said circuit-closing arms 7, all substantially asand for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

g BENJAMIN O. FOX. Witnesses:

O. R. ERWIN, JAS. B. ERWIN.

